When A Cartel Invades Your Small Mexican Town
The story of Rogelio from Malinalco, someone that without ever meeting, I admire.
It was the 20th of December 2021, and we had just finished a weekend of partying for my birthday in the nation’s capital, Mexico City: steak restaurants, fancy clubs, boat parties, the whole thing. Looking back, it was evident (only by introspecting how I partied) that the Fed would pivot and raise rates soon after, and I should have hedged my positions.
Market tops are always self-evident looking back, but the greed of the moment always blinds you. A bit less every time, I hope.
We left for Malinalco, a Magical Town in the State of Mexico (highly recommended) that is 1 hour and a half drive away. A Christmas town party was expecting us that night, which my friend’s girlfriend had been talking about for a while and at which she was going to introduce us to many of her friends: one man, particularly Rogelio.
Not too many hours after arriving, we heard the party was canceled due to a shooting on the main street. Rogelio, the son of the most influential family and city council candidate, got shot several times in front of his business. They shot him there rather than at his house so that his family wouldn’t be near to fire back.
Rogelio had to be rushed by helicopter to a hospital in the nearest city, Toluca. He couldn’t make it out and died during the night. We later found out that he had received offers to pay a tax to the La Familia Michoacan Cartel, but he refused, as he knew that if he bent himself, it was over for everyone else in his town.
He was the town's top alpha male, so if he couldn’t defend himself against them, who would?
The next day, everyone from the town, including us, gathered at the town’s entrance and waited for his body (in a coffin) to arrive from Toluca. We were thousands walking down the street toward his parent’s home.
Many in this town swore on that day to create auto-defense groups to defend their city and honor against the Michoacan Cartel. It has been over a year, and not much has happened on that front. Instead, it’s rumored that the Cartel has taken control of some businesses through extortion.
Malinalco remains a beautiful and safe place, but fear of violence has taken over what was once a cartel-free town. If you run a business, you will probably watch your back more often.
This was just a random post I wanted to share with you guys about the state of a country in which the monopoly of violence by a single group hasn’t been figured out yet. The War on Drugs remains active with the many groups fighting for control over the country’s territory: military, paramilitary, narco cartel, and civilian.